23 Days in the Cook Islands: Lost in Paradise
- maryrcapone
- Jun 3
- 2 min read
Updated: 5 days ago

We have always loved islands. There is something about the shape of these tiny land masses floating in the middle of vast oceans: diamonds, long slender fingers, perfect circles and unpredictable ovals, that holds our fascination. Islands surrounded by breathtaking beaches with tropical breezes that fill our lungs with a peculiar yet essential life elixir. We can’t get enough of them. With over 270,000 identified islands, we have plenty to choose from. But first, here’s a few places we’ve ticked off the list.
On the island of Jamaica, we camped on the sugar white beaches of Negril and were rocked to sleep with reggae music. We spent a month on the southern Caribbean Island of Martinique with its Africana French fusion of culture and foods that dripped of butter and island spices. We honeymooned on a 40 ft catamaran and cruised the clear waters of the British Virgin Islands, snorkeling with local barracuda and then hopped over to the American Virgin Islands of St. John and St Thomas.
In Italy, we climbed the cliffs of Capri and camped on the rocky shoreline woken by a blazing sunrise, a backdrop to a myriad of fishing boats. In Greece, we lounged on the black sand beaches of the island of Crete and Santorini, swimming for the first time in slate grey waters of the Aegean Sea.
More recently, we journeyed to New Zealand and spent 3 weeks exploring the breathtaking South Island in a camper van, experiencing wonders that still feed our dreams. See 23 Days in New Zealand. And to add an exclamation point to it all, for the last 28 years we have lived part time on the Big Island of Hawaii and have bounced around the shores of Oahu, Maui, Kauai and Molokai.
So why take a trip to the Cook Islands? A tiny spec on the world sphere, a place where few people could find on a map? We heard it on a whisper. Travelers, passing through, shared their love of this mysterious place but quietly, so it could remain a secret for a bit longer. An Island nation in the Continent of Oceania made up of 15 islands, many atolls, spread over 100 miles of some of the best protected waters in the world. With its white sand beaches, turquoise seas and a Polynesian culture that is essentially left untouched, we felt good about our chances. It was time to travel again, to discover a new island world. And it felt like coming home.
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